Brief TV appearance nets arrest of a 'most wanted' man

MANSFIELD – Tyrone Lamont Moses told a Cleveland news reporter only that his name was 'Ty'.

But his brief appearance on a WKYC (Channel 3) news segment, commenting on a councilman's proposal to allow police to routinely "stop and frisk" people was enough to raise a red flag with the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force.

The 27-year-old, wanted by the Richland County Sheriff's Department for the past seven years, was arrested Tuesday at a residence in Cleveland Tuesday.

Moses was convicted in Richland County and sentenced to three years of probation with an 18-month prison sentence, which was suspended.

He had been wanted since April 2007 on an indictment for failing to provide change of address as a sex offender, and a bench warrant for violating the terms of his probation on an original charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

Task force officials said a fugitive investigation was initiated in 2013, and it was determined Moses was no longer in the Mansfield area.

Several "Most Wanted" reports ran in the Mansfield News Journal over the years, but no good leads turned up here.

The task force last week received a tip from someone inside law enforcement that Moses had been spotted on WKYC Channel 3 News talking to reporters about a recent shooting on Cleveland's west side, near Metro hospital.

"He decided to go talk to a reporter who was doing interviews. Someone saw him on TV and called us," Fugitive Task Force spokesman Ross Wilber said.

No one in the Cleveland neighborhood Moses had been living in apparently realized he was wanted, Wilber added. "He was kind of flying under the radar for awhile. We didn't have a new picture of him for seven years."

Task Force Officers from the Richland County Division followed up on the TV news segment and coordinated efforts with the Cleveland Division of the NOVFTF.

On Tuesday, surveillance in that area located Moses. Officers saw him enter a residence on the 2700 block of Woodbridge Avenue in Cleveland. Task force officers contacted the occupants of the residence.

Moses was arrested without incident.

He was transported to the Cuyahoga County Jail to await extradition to Richland County, and may face additional charges in Cuyahoga County for living at that Woodbridge Avenue residence for the past several years without registering his address as required by law.